Category: Software Development Outsourcing

What Makes a GREAT Software Developer?

A Great Software Developer, while possessing an impressive level of technical mastery, also has a particular set of personality traits and other skills that might be even more impactful. In this regard, years of experience may not be as important as a developer’s mindset and willingness to work outside of their own comfort zone.

To be sure, a certain level of technical mastery is required for many developer roles. And just by focusing on this as a hiring manager, you are sure to get many “good” developers. This article illustrates the difference between “good developers” and “great developers”, including tips on screening and hiring.

Cloud App Developers, LLC is an Engineering Company started by 30+ year industry veterans who have learned over the years what makes GREAT Developers. We’ve learned through experience how to vet, screen and hire for the traits that we value in SW Developers and now we are doing the same for our clients. This approach, combined with our vast network of qualified remote developers allows us to scale your development teams with GREAT Developers.

Re: Technical Mastery

Before we uncover the 5 Traits of Great SW Developers, a word on the topic of technical mastery.

A certain level of technical mastery is required to write efficient, highly scalable, quality code. However, just because a Sr. Developer has “13 years experience in Java,” it does not mean they can meet this standard. That’s not to say that quality code isn’t a function of experience; clearly, it is. But plenty of “experienced” developers write sub-par code. And especially for critical applications, quality code is paramount.

An effective code review, where potential candidates review a piece of broken code and offer general architectural observations, can determine if the candidate has the required experience designing and implementing quality, highly scalable, and readable code. This is the most important part of a good microservice architecture, especially for critical applications like banking and telecom.

Cloud App Developers, LLC is an engineering company foremost, and as such we can vet SW Developers who possess the strictest of technical requirements.

“The importance of technical mastery notwithstanding, being an exceptional coder is often not the most crucial skill for a developer.”

In fact, other “soft skills”, when combined with technical mastery, are usually what differentiates average developers from Great Developers.

If you measure the total impact of a developer on a team, 5 traits rise to the top of the list.

The 5 Traits of Great SW Developers

Assuming developer candidates have the required technical mastery for your needs, the following 5 traits differentiate average developers from Great Developers.

1. Extremely Good Communication

Great Developers can communicate ideas, concepts, and details effectively and efficiently.

Few things alienate managers and other team members more than people that just can’t get their point across.

Communication between team members is more important than ever in today’s modern architectures. Teams must collaborate at levels much higher than in the past. Clear, crisp communication is essential for CICD environments.

Of course, addressing cultural communication differences is required if you have multicultural, geographically-distributed teams. Westernized countries typically use low-context communication, while their counterparts in other parts of the world use high-context communication.

Selecting developers from low-context communication countries can often eliminate misunderstandings between your internal and remote teams. Cloud App Developers, LLC screens for engineers with low-context (western style) communication.

2. Proactivity

Great Developers don’t always have to be told what to do. They take on tasks that are obviously needed without being told to do so. Lack of proactivity is a significant source of development bottlenecks, especially for remote teams. It is estimated that up to 30% of development bottlenecks are due to developers waiting for input on gated items, instead of moving forward on items that are not gated. Great Developers find workarounds and remain as productive as possible.

Proactivity is the most decisive personal trait that predicts higher pay for developers.

The best coders are rarely the highest-paid developers on a team. This fact often leads to coding geniuses feeling unappreciated. But the fact is; proactivity is often valued far more than coding genius, and for good reason. Software developers that only execute the requirements given to them aren’t developers or engineers, they are coders.

Being proactive is a choice. Find developers who have made the choice to seek out solutions, to look for ways around perceived roadblocks, rather than wait to be told what to do or for problems to resolve themselves. Cloud App Developers, LLC highly values proactivity and actively vets this during our interview process.

3. Flexibility

Many developers are only comfortable coding well-specified tasks. Great Developers are Flexible.

The age of the “developer specialist” is dead.

Modern microservices architectures are tightly-coupled and require developers to fill multiple roles for the CICD pipeline to flow freely.

For the good of a project, a Great Developer will not hesitate to take on simple tasks outside of coding. This often requires living outside of their comfort zone. As an example, an ideal developer will not hesitate to take on simple DevOps tasks if asked. Cloud App Developers, LLC focuses on vetting out candidates who are too rigid and not willing to be flexible.

4. Team-Oriented Attitude

Great Developers have the motivation, desire, and patience to be team players.

Talented developers are often introverts, so collaborating with other team members often requires them to operate outside of their comfort zone.

The willingness to do so can make the difference between a good developer and a Great Developer.

In addition, it is essential that team members can take criticism from other team members with a productive attitude. Only then can the team work together and improve processes, communication, and overall code quality.

Proper screening for personality types and the candidate’s willingness to be a team player can identify a team-oriented attitude (or lack thereof). At Cloud App Developers, LLC, we foster team-oriented attitudes and only cultivate engineers that will work well within teams.

5. Microservices Experience

In today’s modern architectures, Great Developers MUST have microservices experience.

This is true even for front-end developers. Microservices are often tightly coupled, meaning each microservice communicates with many others. Developers in all areas of the system must understand that making a change to one microservice can impact other microservices.

Learning Microservices from the ground up during a project is not feasible. Look for Great Developers who already have the necessary microservices experience. Proper technical screening can accomplish this. As an engineering company first, Cloud App Developers, LLC are microservices experts, and we use this expertise to assess all developers’ microservices experience.

Great Developers: Purple Unicorns?

Upon reading of the 5 traits of Great Developers, one might ask if such developers are “Purple Unicorns”, meaning they are so rare as to be nearly impossible to find. To be sure, finding developers with these valuable soft skills is more difficult, and they may cost more.

The question isn’t whether it will cost more to find them. The question is: what will it cost your company if you do NOT find them?

Working with engineering companies like Cloud App Developers can be extremely valuable. Cloud App Developers is an Engineering Company first, and a staff-augmentation partner second.

Cloud App Developers:

  1. Understands the difference between a good developer and a Great Developer
  2. Effectively screens for Great Developers
  3. Has an extensive network of potential developers to help you scale.

If you are tired of being bombarded with candidates that do not meet your specific needs, and you would like to augment your team with “Great Developers”, please email me at wes@cloudappdevelopers.com

or you can book a meeting on my calendar.

(There’s a reason we enjoy an 80% candidate acceptance rate.)

Hungary: A Safe Haven for Offshore Software Development

Budapest, Hungary

With its rich engineering pedigree and EU/NATO membership, Hungary stands out as one of the best offshore software development countries in the world.

We’ve been spoiled. For a few decades, we have not had to worry about political stability when choosing an outsourcing country to build our remote teams. Russian aggression in Eastern Europe reminds us that geopolitical factors can’t be ignored when assessing outsourcing risk.

For several reasons, many now consider Hungary a safe haven for Agile Offshore Software Development.

Why Hungary Tops the Best Offshore Software Development Countries

Hungary is a Member of NATO and the EU

Some Eastern European countries, including the Baltic States, are now at risk from Russian aggression. As a Central European country, and being a member of both the EU & NATO, Hungary is considered a stable outsourcing destination.

Engineering Classes are Taught Exclusively in English

According to EF EPI, the preeminent English Proficiency rating body in the world, Hungary’s English proficiency is rated as “Very High”.

All engineering classes in Hungary are taught in English & students must pass the IELTS test in order to enter Engineering School.

In fact, students can’t even enroll in one of Hungary’s many Engineering Colleges without passing the IELTS test.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is designed to help you work, study or migrate to a country where English is the native language.

English-Only in Hungarian Colleges

Highest # of Developers Per Capita in Europe

Hungary enjoys a long-standing, rich Engineering Culture. Despite its modest 10M population, Hungary has the largest software development pool in Central Europe, resulting in the highest number of Developers per capita in Eastern/Central Europe.

Top Developer Skill Ranking

Hungary ranks near the top of all European countries, ranked by developer tech score, according to a 2021 HackerRank study.

Best Offshore Software Development Countries (by Tech Score)

RANKCOUNTRYDEVELOPER TECH SCORE
1Slovakia100
2Czech Republic93.38
3Hungary92.86
4Poland92.74
5Serbia92.59
6Ireland92.27
7Ukraine91.26
8Switzerland91.08
9Germany90.70
10Austria90.15

Hungary has a Low-Context Communication Culture

In her groundbreaking book, “The Culture Map”, Erin Meyer outlines the importance of having a low-context communication culture when blending multi-cultural, geographically dispersed teams.

Hungary has a similar “low-context communication culture” to North America & Europe, which makes communication efficient & crisp.

For more information on how critical low-context communication is for achieving “Agile @ Speed” with your remote development team, read The Secret to Agile With Offshore Teams.

Summary

Hungary is quickly becoming one of the world’s best offshore software development countries. If you would like to learn more about what Hungary can do for you, please visit Cloud App Developers, LLC to learn more, or contact us below and we will respond within hours.

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

Open a Dialogue With Our Hungarian Development Team

Top 6 Tips For Startup Founders – How to Make Offshoring Work

Most Offshore Software Development partners simply don’t understand these critical realities:

Startups can’t afford failures or delays.

They don’t have the bandwidth to micro-manage remote software dev teams.

Startups need software developers who can “get it right the first time with minimal supervision”

Agile @ Speed
Agile @ Speed

This article delivers a formula for Successful Offshore Software Development for Startups.

The ability to “get it right the first time” with “Agile @ Speed” dramatically reduces the risk associated with external development teams & makes offshoring a “Low Risk” + “Low Cost” winning combination.

What Do Startups Need from Offshore Development Teams?

  • Low-cost & Low-risk Resources
  • Excellent English & Communication Skills
  • Product Ownership & Accountability
  • Problem-solving Mentality
  • Quality Code

Critical Offshoring Success Factors for Startups

  • Startups can’t afford failures or delays.
  • Startups don’t have the bandwidth to micro-manage vendors.
  • Waterfall won’t work for most startups. They need “Agile @ Speed” from offshore teams to succeed.
  • Engineers = Agile. Coders = Waterfall. Startups need Engineers.
Work With Offshore Developers Who Deliver Results

6 Top Offshoring Tips For Startups

1. Low-Context Communication is Critical for Success

Communication between you and your offshore team will be much easier if they practice low-context communication. 

What is the Difference Between Low-Context and High Context Communication?

high context vs low context communication

Low/High Context Communication By Country

Image source: Tech Tello

Wherever possible, pick developers from countries with low-context communication.

Again, startups don’t have the bandwidth to micro-manage their offshore partners.

Low-context communication leaves nothing to interpretation and is the only way to ensure clear, crisp communication between multi-cultural teams.

It’s easy to identify low-context communication by interacting with the developers 1:1.

  • Send the prospective development partner a few emails with detailed questions and see how they answer.  You are looking for detailed, thoughtful answers that leave nothing to interpretation.
  • Ask to speak in person with a few of the team members that would be on the team you will be working with, looking for low-context verbal communication capabilities.

More information on low-context communication

2. Screen Vendors for “Agile @ Speed”

With the multitude of changes, dependencies, and processes within Agile methodologies, a certain velocity of communication, interaction, and concurrency is required.

Without this velocity of communication, “Agile @ Speed” is simply not possible.

What is “Agile @ Speed?”

Agile @ Speed is an important metric for integrating a remote team with your internal team.

Many companies practice Agile methodologies. But Agile is only powerful as a methodology if it can be practiced with a certain velocity.

Startup teams require remote developers who communicate and interact with speed.

How to Screen for “Agile @ Speed”

The best way to screen for “Agile @ Speed” is to work with the vendor on a small project, as seen in Tip #3.

3. Vet Prospective Vendors with a Small Proof of Concept Project

If you absolutely can’t afford to have an “Offshore Vendor False Start”, consider a small Proof of Concept to experience the team’s capabilities before committing. 

This can be helpful if you want to evaluate specific technical capabilities or want to really see if their communication culture is a fit for your company. You will also see if they are capable of “Agile at Speed”.

Pick a project or sprint that can be completed in a few weeks.  In 2-4 weeks, you will find out a lot about a potential dev partner’s capability. 

4. Look for Communication Excellence “2-Layers Deep”

Interview the team leaders AND a few of the key engineers one or two layers down to evaluate their communication skills.  

A common practice of some offshoring/nearshoring software houses is to insert a “customer liaison”, a kind of technical lead who can ensure proper communication between your engineers and the remote team.  This should be a red flag that the team in question lacks communication skills.

There are also other problems with the liaison model:

  • The bulk of communication within the development team happens between developers.  The liaison can’t possibly be in every conversation.
  • Much is lost in translation (see telephone game)
  • “Agile at Speed” is required between various dev team members. A liaison only adds more delays.

5. Manage Political Risk

The recent troubles in Ukraine and Eastern Europe have reminded us of the importance of managing geopolitical risk. Pick vendors from countries with political and economic stability.

Hungary and Poland, having EU and NATO membership, are safer destinations for outsourcing than some Eastern European countries, for example.

Read 7 Reasons to Outsource Software Development to Hungary in 2022 if you would like to take advantage of Hungary’s many benefits and avoid political risk.

6. Make Your Expectations Known Up Front

Never assume prospective offshore/nearshore dev partners understand your expectations.  Be specific on what’s important to you.  Some examples are:

  • Do you expect Engineers or Coders?
  • Agile (not Waterfall)?
  • Expected throughput per engineer
  • Availability and Accessibility of team
  • Seniority expectations.  (What do you mean by “Sr. Developer”?)

Contrary to popular belief, most offshore/nearshore development firms do not “bait and switch” to get a contract.  More commonly, expectations are simply not communicated clearly from the beginning, leading to mismatches.

Summary

Startups who work with development partners who understand their needs, and are capable of delivering the value that they seek are much more likely to succeed with offshoring.

If you would like to work with an Offshore Development Partner who delivers value, please contact wes@cloudappdevelopers.com or fill out the form below.

Contact Us for More Information

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

Nearshore vs Offshore Software Development

Nearshore vs Offshore

Nearshore vs Offshore Software Development. That is the decision many Engineering teams are debating as they struggle to scale remote development teams amidst a global shortage of developers. When looking for the best possible fit for your company, it’s not meaningful to simply lump all worldwide software development centers into either Nearshoring vs Offshoring. 

In this article, we examine the pros and cons of offshoring and nearshoring, but with an important distinction: The nearshoring vs offshoring label you give it means very little.

Table of Contents

Both Mexico and Argentina are considered Nearshoring, but there are considerable differences between the two.  The same can be said for Central Europe vs Eastern Europe.

To highlight these differences, we compared these 5 regions in several categories:    

Mexico, Latin America, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and India.

Nearshore vs Offshore Comparison Chart

CriteriaMexicoLatAmCentral
Europe		Eastern
Europe		India
Primary Tech
Centers		MultipleArgentina,
Colombia, 
Costa Rica		Hungary,
Poland		Ukraine
Belarus		Multiple
ModelNearshoreNearshoreOffshoreOffshoreOffshore
Software Dev
Hourly Rates		ModerateModerateLowLowVery
Low
Time Zone
vs USA		0-3 hrs.0-5 hrs.6-9 hrs.7-10 hrs9.5-12.5
hrs.
Size of
Talent Pool		Low/MidLow/MidMidMidHigh
Rapid
Scalability		ModerateModerateModerateModerateHigh
Tech English
Proficiency		HighMediumHighMidMedium
Communication
Culture		Mid
Context		Mid
Context		Low
Context		Low
Context		High
Context
Nearshore vs Offshore Selection Criteria

Global Software Development Hourly Rates

Latin America and Mexico come in at about 50% of the cost of US rates, on average. 

Central and Eastern Europe are next lowest at 40%.

India averages 30% of US rates.

Not included in these calculations are the costs of managing and supporting the remote nearshore vs offshore team, which varies by type of model chosen as well as the capabilities of the dev partner chosen. 

In general, it costs more to manage and support India teams than their counterparts from other regions, due to time zone and cultural communication differences.  

If you want to outsource to India, you will need to allocate more internal engineering resources to manage the Indian dev partner. This cost is often hard to justify for offshore development teams of 25 or less. Nonetheless, India can be a very low-cost option and the best way to scale a large team quickly.

Time Zone Difference vs USA

From a time-zone perspective, a Nearshoring vs Offshoring comparison may not be as straightforward as you think. What may be nearshoring for some may be offshoring for others.  Comparing Argentina and Hungary to EST and PST time zones demonstrates this.   

US Time ZoneGuadalajara,
Mexico		ArgentinaHungaryIndia
PST+2+5+9+13.5
EST-1+2+6+10.5

Latin America spans 6 time zones.  Is it nearshoring or offshoring?  The answer may depend on where your internal developers are located.

If you want to maximize daily real-time collaboration, consider which time zone your teams will be in, rather than focusing on a Nearshore or Offshore label.  Keep in mind, Offshore Development Partners are often willing to skew their working hours to maximize collaboration overlap with your team. 

Integrating a remote software development team into your Agile workflow is difficult with less than 2-3 hours a day minimum workday overlap. Make this your minimum requirement when choosing a partner.

Size of Talent Pool

Mexico, along with several countries in Latin America have been transforming their tech capabilities at an impressive rate.  Their future SW development capabilities seem very bright.  And indeed, you can find many talented developers today from these regions, and the near time zone benefits may be very attractive. 

If you are looking for specific technology SME’s, Eastern/Central Europe may provide attractive options. 

However, the size of the talent pool of Nearshoring regions is not comparable to India’s, and for some technologies, nearshore developers are not yet as experienced as their Eastern/Central European counterparts. If you need to scale a large team quickly, you may need to consider India.  And if you are looking for specific technology SME’s, Eastern/Central Europe may provide attractive options.  In this case, the nearshore vs offshore decision has more to do with the country in question.

Ability to Rapidly Scale

Most Latin American and Central/Eastern European SW development partners will struggle to scale large teams rapidly.  Many simply do not have an adequate pool of available in-house developers, and there are not nearly as many developers in the “hiring pool” as in India.  Universities from these regions are churning out more engineers every year, and this problem may be resolved in the coming years, but the number of new tech graduates is not yet comparable to India.   

If you need to scale to a team of 50+ developers in 90 days, you might need to look towards countries like India.

The “sweet spot” for scaling Latin American and Central/Eastern European Software Development Teams seems to be 5-20 developers within 60-90 days. If you can provide a long-term scaling plan,  larger teams are definitely possible.

Technical English Proficiency

When evaluating Nearshore vs Offshore, you should consider regional differences in Technical English Proficiencies that exist between countries.  Within Nearshoring regions, Mexico outpaces Latin America, owing to proximity to the US and a University system that promotes not only English proficiency but also low-context communication.

Engineering colleges in Hungary teach in English, and students must pass English Proficiency tests to be admitted.

Within Europe, Central European countries tend to be more westernized and have superior technical English proficiency as compared to their Eastern European counterparts.  As an example, engineering colleges in Hungary teach in English and students must first pass English Proficiency tests to be admitted. 

India’s technical English proficiency is high, but cultural communication challenges do exist.

Communication Culture

English proficiency is only one aspect of communication.  Cross-cultural communication differences can and do cause a lot of problems with geographically-dispersed engineering teams. 

Cross-cultural communication challenges are one of the primary sources of outsourcing failure. This is due to low-context vs high context communication differences. 

Summary

We hope we have provided some valuable insights into your Nearshore vs Offshore comparison. As you can see, Nearshoring vs Offshoring isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. Look for regional strengths that match your most important requirements. And if you need additional information please visit our Services Page for details on each region covered in this article.

Nearshore vs Offshore Development FAQs

What is nearshore development?

Nearshore development is having services performed by a company from another country with similar time zones as your team. Mexico is an example of this for the USA.

What is offshore development?

Offshore development is having services performed by a company from another country that is typically far away with a large time zone difference. India is an example of this for the USA.

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION Nearshore/Offshore

Our Architects, Developers, Data Scientists, and Data Engineers are extensively screened and have domain expertise in several industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services, Insurtech, IoT, Logistics, Industrial Automation, etc.

Global Development Centers

Nearshoring Software Development

Nearshore Software Development (Latin America)

Offshore Software Development

Offshore Software Development (Central Europe)

Outsourcing to India

Offshore Software Development (Southern India)

Locations: Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Peru

Top Rated In Latin America for English Proficiency

Maximum Time Zone Overlap with the USA

Engineering Culture Alignment

Location: Hungary

Top Rated in Central Europe for English Proficiency

Talented Engineering Pool

Strong Engineering Culture Alignment

Location: Cochin, India

Most Westernized Region of India

Very Low Turnover Rate in Region

Ability to Scale Large Teams Rapidly

Interested in Nearshore/Offshore Software Development?

If you’d like to experience “Agile at Speed”, we’d be happy to schedule a brief call to discuss how we can help you.

Communicate! (with Remote Software Development Teams)

With remote software development teams, you need to be excellent at communicating “asynchronously”, across time zones. Much of your communication will not happen in real-time, so you can’t afford to play “Question and Answer Ping Pong”.  Here are some proven best practices to follow as you address how to manage a remote development team.

Table of Contents

Set Up a Communication Framework

It’s too easy to lose valuable information when team members are communicating across multiple platforms like Skype, WhatsApp, Slack, Email, Zoom chat, Google Hangouts, text etc.. 

As difficult as it might be, insist on limiting your technical communication channels to two or three. 

Email can be used for overall communication between managers and other stakeholders, but technical communication channels should be limited. 

Communication Framework for Remote Software Development Teams:

  • Jira or another project/issue tracking platform can be used for technical documentation and overall project information.  It can also be used to store communication protocol and process information. 
  • Slack could be used for instant communication and to post “group chat and notifications”.  This is particularly helpful if direct communication after hours is used to answer bottleneck questions.  Many delays can be avoided in this way.
  • Video chat platforms like Skype, Zoom or similar can be used for video meetings and to share screens for collaboration.   

Establish Clear Communication Protocols

Very early, establish communication protocols and expectations with your remote software development team.  These will cover items such as:

Daily Collaboration Schedules

Work schedules between remote and internal development teams should be structured to maximize the number of daily collaboration hours.  This is critical in the early stages but can be relaxed once the teams are up and running.  A minimum of 2 hours of daily workday overlap with your remote team is suggested, more if possible. 

Meeting Frequency

  • Scrum meeting times and frequency
    • Scrum Masters and relevant Team Leads from both teams
    • Daily at first, less frequently over time.
    • Keep recurring meetings at regularly scheduled times.
  • Monthly Technical Management meetings
    • Attended by Technical Managers from both teams
    • Track key KPIs and manage expectations
  • Quarterly Executive Meetings
    • Executive Engineering Management from both teams
    • Roadmap discussions and executive feedback.

Low-Context Communication Expectations and Standards

Set specific standards and expectations for low-context communication from your remote software development team.

 Avoid the “Question and Answer Ping Pong”

  • Each email and direct message should be precise, meaningful and thoughtful.  Short, vague emails usually trigger Q&A Ping Pong.
  • Coach your teams to write emails with as much information as possible.  Nothing should be left to interpretation. 
  • All team members should develop a habit of reviewing and proofreading emails and direct messages before sending.  The simple question to answer before hitting send is; “If I were the recipient of this message, would I understand it without sending another email to clarify something?”
HIRE REMOTE DEVELOPERS with Low-Context Communication

Once your remote team understands the importance of low-context communication, these improvements become a matter of practice. 

After Hours Communication (for bottleneck questions)

Even with the best asynchronous communication between teams, it’s important to have the ability to get quick answers to bottleneck questions.  Without this in place, project schedules often suffer the “death of a thousand cuts”. 

Project schedules often suffer the “death of a thousand cuts”, waiting for answers to bottleneck questions.

We highly recommended that you get permission and cooperation from your offshore developers to periodically answer quick bottleneck questions sent to them after hours (on slack or another instant message platform).  Being available (only as needed) just a few hours before and after the remote team’s formal workday can save weeks in schedule.  A good remote team will see the value of this and agree.

Consider Developing a Glossary of Terms (Wiki)

Most teams use industry jargon without even realizing it.  In fact, even technical jargon deemed common in the US might be misunderstood by a remote developer.   It’s a good idea to develop a Glossary of Terms or Wiki to define any terms and definitions deemed relevant.  

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION for “Agile at Speed”

Our Architects, Developers, Data Scientists, and Data Engineers are extensively screened and have domain expertise in several industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services, Insurtech, IoT, Logistics, Industrial Automation, etc.

Developer Screening, Testing & Training

With the multitude of changes, dependencies & processes within Agile methodologies, a certain velocity of communication, interaction & concurrency is required. Our screening processes ensure our teams can deliver “Agile @ Speed” in your development workflow.

Technical English Proficiency

For Agile, “English At Speed” Is The Standard

Communication Excellence

Developers Trained For “Low-Context” Communication

Problem Solving Aptitude

Our Customers Expect Engineers

Code Testing

Code Quality

Code Reviews For All Developers

Interested in Agile Remote Development at Speed?

If you’d like to experience “Agile at Speed”, we’d be happy to schedule a brief call to discuss how we can help you.

The Secret to Agile with Offshore Teams

Agile Offshore Software Development

Table of Contents

The secret to agile with offshore teams lies within the differences between low-context and high-context communication cultures. As many of you may have already experienced; focusing solely on developer skill and experience does not guarantee a successful offshoring experience. Agile offshore development performance requires “Agile at Speed”, which is difficult to accomplish without a certain velocity of communication. This article focuses on how this is accomplished.

“The biggest single problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” 

-George Bernard Shaw

How appropriate this comment is for agile offshore development.  Language barriers and cultural communication differences can lead to misunderstandings that can hamper a development team’s throughput, foster mistrust between teams, and (worst case) contribute to disastrous consequences.  

But in the context of geographically dispersed, culturally diverse engineering teams, what do we mean by effective communication? We examine two important communication elements that are critical to Offshore Agile Software Development: Technical English Proficiency and Cross-Cultural Communication.

Agile Requires Technical English Proficiency

Effective communication clearly requires moderate English proficiency, at a minimum.  However, Conversational English Proficiency is quite different than Technical English Proficiency. 

There are many tests that can identify technical English proficiency, including the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), offered by Cambridge University’s Cambridge Assessment English (CAE) exam board. 

HIRE OFFSHORE DEVELOPERS with Technical English Proficiency

The Hidden Problem of Cross-Cultural Communication

“The hidden problem of achieving agile with offshore teams is the difference between high-context and low-context communication cultures.”

Cross-cultural communication challenges are the root cause of many offshore/nearshore development failures.  This hidden problem causes mismatched expectations between customers and their offshore/nearshore vendors. 

Low-Context vs High-Context Communication

An excellent article detailing the cultural communication differences across the world, which summarizes Erin Meyer’s ground-breaking novel:  The Culture Map, can be found at Tech Tello.  A summary is provided below.

Low-Context vs High-Context Communication

Low-Context Communication Cultures

In low context communication cultures, effective communication must be concise, straightforward, and explicit for the message to be passed on successfully. 

“Low-context culture requires stating it as you mean it.”

The rule-of-thumb for low context communication is as follows: “Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them”

This process is designed to quickly identify and correct misunderstandings before they become problems.  It also serves to reduce pointless, time-consuming debates.

In low context cultures, communication occurs assuming that knowledge of each other’s histories and backgrounds is not present. Neither is most of the communication shaped by long-term relationships between speakers.

In low-context communication, the meaning of messages is more dependent on the words being spoken rather than on a shared understanding of subtle cues.

High-Context Communication Cultures

“High-context culture requires reading between the lines.”

In high-context communication cultures, effective communication is nuanced, layered, and sophisticated.  High-context cultures rely upon shared history and experiences to communicate. 

A high percentage of words can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending on how and when they are used.  This can be very effective and efficient if all members of a team have the same background, history and experiences to understand these subtleties. 

However, when this shared history and understanding is absent, as is the case when people from high-context cultures communicate with people from low-context cultures, the communication breaks down. 

In fact, the highest chance of miscommunication exists when two people from different high-context cultures try to communicate.  In this scenario, both parties try to communicate using nuances that neither is aware of. 

Communication Cultures by Country

Image source: Tech Tello

As you can see, the United States is the lowest context communication culture in the world, with most of the westernized countries leaning towards the left of the scale. 

All the countries that speak the Romance languages, including European countries like Italy, France, and Spain, as well as Latin American countries fall in the middle of the scale, while Asian and African countries are solidly on the right of the scale. 

Japan is the highest context communication culture in the world. 

Clearly, excellent software engineering can be found along the entire low/high context continuum.  This scale is not meant to measure communication effectiveness.  It merely points out how well people from two cultures can relate to one another. 

The Secret to Agile With Offshore Teams

“If clear communication is the goal, multi-cultural teams need low-context communication and processes.“

What matters isn’t where either culture falls on the scale, but rather the relative position of the two cultures that must work together, in this case on Software Development.  The larger the gap, the harder it will be to communicate with your Software Development Partner, on average. 

When US-based companies with low context cultures work with SW Development partners from high-context cultures, there is often little basis (context) for shared non-verbal, nuanced communication, causing frequent miscommunication. 

Agile development programs will suffer if half your team is communicating non-verbally, with assumed shared understanding, and the other half is not.  Even moderate time-zone differences between geographically dispersed teams can magnify this problem. 

Selecting an Agile Offshore Software Development Team with Low-Context Communication

The easiest way to ensure low-context communication is to pick a development partner from a low-context communication culture. 

HIRE REMOTE DEVELOPERS with Low-Context Communication

But you may have other reasons to outsource from a country that is not low-context. In this case, pick a Remote Development Team that:

  • Understands the importance of crisp, clear, low-context communication
  • Has put in place the proper screening, testing, and training to ensure low-context communication
  • Understands it is the responsibility of the offshore/nearshore vendor to adopt a low-context communication style to aid in communication.

In our opinion, it’s the responsibility of the offshore/nearshore vendor to adapt to their US-based customers’ communication culture.  It’s not about who’s right or wrong, but rather about workability.   The high/low context communication combination usually does not work unless low context processes and communication are established.  This is especially true in Agile Development Environments.

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION for “Agile at Speed”

Our Architects, Developers, Data Scientists, and Data Engineers are extensively screened and have domain expertise in several industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services, Insurtech, IoT, Logistics, Industrial Automation, etc.

Developer Screening, Testing & Training

With the multitude of changes, dependencies & processes within Agile methodologies, a certain velocity of communication, interaction & concurrency is required. Our screening processes ensure our teams can deliver “Agile @ Speed” in your development workflow.

Technical English Proficiency

For Agile, “English At Speed” Is The Standard

Communication Excellence

Developers Trained For “Low-Context” Communication

Problem Solving Aptitude

Our Customers Expect Engineers

Code Testing

Code Quality

Code Reviews For All Developers

Need Agile Offshore Development?

If you need “Agile at Speed”, send us a message using the form below to schedule a meeting to review how we can assist with your offshore software development efforts. Thank you.

How Can a Remote Developer Team Thrive in Your Agile Environment?

Some Remote Developer Teams struggle in agile environments, while others seem to thrive. But how can you predict which teams are more likely to succeed? Identifying any “Agile Gaps” within a prospective remote development team upfront is critical to your dev team scaling efforts, especially if you can’t afford an “Offshore Vendor False Start”. 

Remote Developer Team

Table of Contents

Beware of the “Waterfall Trap”

As early as possible, you need to determine whether your prospective remote development team can thrive in your Agile environment (with its multitude of changes, dependencies, and processes), or if they are limited to Waterfall (with its clearly defined tasks and clear boundaries between development teams).  

remote software development teams

This “Waterfall Trap” has bitten many unsuspecting Engineering Managers as they scale their remote teams, only to be disappointed with the results.  Keep reading to discover the root causes of remote developer team failure and how to prevent falling into the “Waterfall Trap”

“Agile At Speed” Should Be the Standard

“In the time it took me to explain things, I could have coded it myself.”


-Typical complaint about remote developers

US customers usually expect their offshore dev partners to be an extension to their internal agile team. With the multitude of changes, dependencies, and processes within Agile methodologies, a certain velocity of communication, interaction, and concurrency is required. 

This “Agile at Speed” is difficult to achieve unless your offshore dev team’s communication culture matches yours.  Without it, project schedules will slip, and your offshore partner will be a source of inefficiencies, causing a rippling effect across your entire dev team. 

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION for “Agile at Speed”

Effective Cross-Cultural Communication

An excellent article detailing the cultural communication differences across the world, which summarizes Erin Meyer’s ground-breaking novel:  The Culture Map, can be found at Tech Tello.  A brief summary is provided here.

high context vs low context communication
Image Source: Tech Tello

Low-Context Communication Cultures

“Low-context culture requires stating it as you mean it.”

In low context communication cultures, effective communication must be concise, straightforward, and explicit for the message to be passed on successfully. 

The rule-of-thumb for low context communication is as follows: “Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them”

This process is designed to quickly identify and correct misunderstandings before they become problems.  It also serves to reduce pointless, time-consuming debates.

In low context cultures, communication occurs assuming that knowledge of each other’s histories and backgrounds is not present. Neither is most of the communication shaped by long-term relationships between speakers. In low-context communication, the meaning of messages is more dependent on the words being spoken rather than on a shared understanding of subtle cues.

High-Context Communication Cultures

“High-context culture requires reading between the lines.”

In high-context communication cultures, effective communication is nuanced, layered, and sophisticated.  High-context cultures rely upon shared history and experiences to communicate.  A high percentage of words can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending on how and when they are used.  This can be very effective and efficient if all members of a team have the same background, history and experiences to understand these subtleties. 

However, when this shared history and understanding is absent, as is the case when people from high-context cultures communicate with people from low-context cultures, the communication breaks down.  In fact, the highest chance of miscommunication exists when two people from different high-context cultures try to communicate.  In this scenario, both parties try to communicate using nuances that neither is aware of. 

Communication Cultures by Country

Image source: Tech Tello

As you can see, the United States is the lowest context communication culture in the world, with most of the westernized countries leaning towards the left of the scale. 

All the countries that speak the Romance languages, including European countries like Italy, France, and Spain, as well as Latin American countries fall in the middle of the scale, while Asian and African countries are solidly on the right of the scale.  Japan is the highest context communication culture in the world. 

Clearly, excellent software engineering can be found along the entire low/high context continuum.  This scale is not meant to measure communication effectiveness.  It merely points out how well people from two cultures can relate to one another. 

The Secret to Agile With a Remote Developer Team

“If clear communication is the goal, multi-cultural teams need low-context communication & processes.“

What matters isn’t where either culture falls on the scale, but rather the relative position of the two cultures that must work together, in this case on Software Development.  The larger the gap, the harder it will be to communicate with your Software Development Partner, on average. 

When US-based companies with low context cultures work with SW Development partners from high-context cultures, there is often little basis (context) for shared non-verbal, nuanced communication, causing frequent miscommunication. 

Agile development programs will suffer if half your team is communicating non-verbally, with assumed shared understanding, and the other half is not.  Even moderate time-zone differences between geographically dispersed teams can magnify this problem. 

Read our full article The Secret to Agile with Offshore Software Development Teams here.

How to Ensure Low-Context Communication When Selecting a Remote Development Team

The easiest way to ensure low-context communication is to pick a development partner from a low-context communication culture. 

HIRE REMOTE DEVELOPERS with Low-Context Communication

But you may have other reasons to outsource from a country that is not low-context. In this case, pick a Remote Development Team who:

  • Understands the importance of crisp, clear, low-context communication
  • Has put in place the proper screening, testing, and training to ensure low-context communication, and
  • Understands that it is the responsibility of the offshore/nearshore vendor to adapt a low-context communication style to aid in communication.

In our opinion, it’s the responsibility of the offshore/nearshore vendor to adapt to their US-based customers’ communication culture. 

It’s not about who’s right and wrong, but rather about workability. The high/low context communication combination usually does not work unless low context processes and communication are established.  This is especially true in Agile Development Environments.

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

With a team of 1,500+ Engineers from 6 countries, we provide multiple options to optimize what’s most important to our customers. Need to scale a large team rapidly? Need same time-zone development? Looking for particular tech skills? We have you covered.

We also offer IT Staff Augmentation Services for Software Development and Data Science Engineers.

IT STAFF AUGMENTATION for “Agile at Speed”

Our Architects, Developers, Data Scientists, and Data Engineers are extensively screened and have domain expertise in several industries, including Telecommunications, Financial Services, Insurtech, IoT, Logistics, Industrial Automation, etc.

Developer Screening, Testing & Training

With the multitude of changes, dependencies & processes within Agile methodologies, a certain velocity of communication, interaction & concurrency is required. Our screening processes ensure our teams can deliver “Agile @ Speed” in your development workflow.

Technical English Proficiency

For Agile, “English At Speed” Is The Standard

Communication Excellence

Developers Trained For “Low-Context” Communication

Problem Solving Aptitude

Our Customers Expect Engineers

Code Testing

Code Quality

Code Reviews For All Developers

Interested in Agile Remote Development at Speed?

If you’d like to experience “Agile at Speed”, we’d be happy to schedule a brief call to discuss how we can help you.

7 Reasons to Outsource Software Development to Hungary in 2022

Budapest, Hungary

While Poland & Ukraine have historically been the most popular software development outsourcing destinations in Central & Eastern Europe, Hungary is emerging as one of the best countries to outsource software development. Quietly, Hungary’s talent pool has been steadily increasing over the past few decades. Compared to Eastern Europe software development outsourcing, Hungary also offers the westernized culture of a Central European country. This has attracted many US companies to establish Hungary as their primary offshore software development destination.

Hungary: The Alternative to Software Development Outsourcing in Eastern Europe

Recent regional instabilities in the Eastern European region have highlighted the need for managing political risks when outsourcing to Eastern Europe Software Development Companies. As a member of the EU & NATO, Hungary provides the stability to safely invest in an offshore development team.

Why Hungary Has Become a Top Offshore Software Development Destination

  1. Tech Talent Ranked 3rd in all of Europe
  2. Largest IT Talent Pool in Central Europe
  3. Developers are Fluent in English (Ranked 2nd in Central & Eastern Europe)
  4. Hungary a Member of the EU & NATO
  5. Labor Laws Comply with European Standards
  6. Low-Context Communication Culture Matches Western Countries
  7. Low Attrition Rates for Developers

Hungary’s Tech Talent Ranking

Hungary ranks near the top of all European countries for developer skills, according to a 2021 HackerRank study.

RANKCOUNTRYDEVELOPER TECH SCORE
1Slovakia100
2Czech Republic93.38
3Hungary92.86
4Poland92.74
5Serbia92.59
6Ireland92.27
7Ukraine91.26
8Switzerland91.08
9Germany90.70
10Austria90.15

Hungary Has a Large Developer Pool

Hungary has been steadily building its IT Talent Pool over the past few decades & now has the largest number of developers in all of Central & Eastern Europe. Here are the top 5:

RANKCOUNTRYPOPULATION# DEVELOPERS
1Hungary10M155,000
2Czech Republic10.5M150,000
3Poland38M140,000
4Romania19.5M125,000
5Ukraine42M115,000
Developer Talent Pool

All Engineering Classes in Hungary are Taught in English

Agile requires Technical English Proficiency. If you are looking for developers who can communicate complex technical concepts in English “at speed”, then Hungary should be at the top of your list.

All engineering classes in Hungary are taught in English & students must pass the IELTS test in order to enter Engineering School. According to EF EPI, the preeminent English Proficiency rating body in the world, Hungary’s English proficiency is rated as “Very High”.

Hungary holds EU & NATO Membership

Often overlooked when choosing a Central or Eastern European development partner is the political stability of the country. Being a member of both the EU & NATO, Hungary is considered a stable outsourcing destination.

Hungary Has Favorable Euro-Centric Labor Laws

Bureaucratic labor laws can make it difficult to do business in some Eastern & Central European countries. Hungary’s labor laws are in line with European Union standards.

Hungary has a Low-Context Communication Culture

In her groundbreaking book, “The Culture Map”, Erin Meyer outlines the importance of having a low-context communication culture when blending multi-cultural, geographically dispersed teams. Hungary has a similar “low-context communication culture” to North America & Europe, which makes communication efficient & crisp.

Hungary Has Low Developer Turnover Rates

Hungarian software development companies have developer turnover rates below 10%, far below most Central & Eastern European countries. Compare that to 22% turnover rate in India & 12% in Latin America.

Conclusion

Once you realize the rich developer talent in Hungary & consider all of the other important variables for choosing an offshore software development destination, the decision is clear. Hungary belongs on every tech manager’s list of potential outsourcing destinations.

About Cloud App Developers, LLC

Cloud App Developers, LLC offers Software Staff Augmentation & Custom Software Development Services from Hungary, Latin America & India. Our Offshoring & Nearshoring Software Development is built upon a foundation of English & Communication Excellence. Visit our About Us page for more information.

Our Services

Dedicated Software Development Teams

Dedicated Software Development Team

An Autonomous team assembled to deliver technology solutions.

Managed by Customer Product Owner & our Scrum Master.

Software Development Staff Augmentation

IT Staff Augmentation

Augment your internal team with developers you don’t have to babysit.

Top developers with English & Communication Excellence.

Custom Software Development

Custom Software Development

End-to-End Custom Software Development, built to your specifications.

For More Information on Outsourcing SW Development to Hungary, please complete form below. Thank you.